Spectacular staging is a clear highlight of The Lost Boys, diverting attention from the rather dreary rock score. 

Note: having attended an early preview performance, this review is more of a general description of the production rather than a full critique.

Much as vampires have struggled on Broadway, The Lost Boys arrives as a blue chip title thanks to audience affection for 1987 cult classic film The Lost Boys. The movie took a hot young cast and concocted a potent mix of comedy and horror with a terrific soundtrack. And it was all over in 97 minutes.

New musical The Lost Boys takes the slender plot and stretches it rather tediously over 170 minutes (including interval). A look at the orchestra gives a clue as to the problem at this point. Roughly half of the 15 musicians play rock band instruments while the other half play traditional orchestral strings. You can’t please everyone, so Broadway lovers will likely be turned off by the rock numbers while younger fans will tune out the inner-feelings ballads, particularly from matriarch Lucy. The musical may potentially be edited during previews, with opening night more than three weeks away at this point. 

The all-new score is by US rock band The Rescues, who give a perfect voice to the titular rock band The Lost Boys. Adapted from the film with just a few tweaks, the book David Hornsby and Chris Hoch is fine but the songs, particularly in act one, tend to grind the action to a halt, suggesting a lack of experience in crafting an integrated Broadway musical. Another sign of this is the absence of a chorus of townsfolk; members of the ensemble are reduced to booth singing and occasional appearances as human props. 

Escaping an abusive husband/father, Lucy Emerson brings sons Michael and Sam to her coastal hometown of Santa Clara, not realising it has recently become a local murder capital. For the musical, still set in 1997, Grandpa is reduced to an urn of ashes and Sam has no dog. The Frog Brothers, Edgar and Alan, are now a male and a female (“Alan” being the surname of Jessica). 

After an all too brief opening murder of an inquisitive cop, the story takes a long while to really get going, with an initial flying sequence a late highlight of act one. Act two has a little more momentum, with the climactic massacre of the vampires achieving the perfect blend of comedy and horror.

In a welcome subplot, younger brother Sam has an affection for Rob Lowe and an eye for fashion detail that culminates in a terrific almost-11-o’clock number in which he realises that his “Superpower” is to make being queer a cool thing. 

Director Michael Arden oversees an incredibly technical staging, with actors flying as often as the scenery, which also often rises from below the stage. In a particularly cool sequence taken from the film, the vampires hang from a bridge and then let go, with the actors falling out of sight into an abyss.

Scenic design by Dane Laffrey is set over three levels and is all solid construction without an LCD screen in sight. Costume design by Ryan Park is suitably cool without being too garishly reflective of the 1980s. 

Music director Julie McBride conducts the diverse band with accomplished flair. Occasional appearances of the rock musician band members on stage adds to the brooding atmosphere. 

Young leading man LJ Benet makes for a highly likeable main character in Michael Emerson, capturing the young man’s restless dissatisfaction that leads to his ready seduction by the vampires. The even younger performer Benjamin Pajak confidently shows clear stage expertise as Sam Emerson, nicely playing gay without a trace of cliched tropes. 

Legitimate Broadway star Shoshana Bean anchors the traditional aspects of the musical as fretting mother Lucy Emerson. In the absence of Grandpa, Lucy has more agency in the climactic vampire battle and Bean pulls this off in believable style. 

Ali Louis Bourzgui is wonderfully charismatic as head Lost Boy David, the role memorably played by Kiefer Sutherland in the film. 

Broadway vet Paul Alexander Nolan deftly brings a suspiciously sinister undercurrent to local video library proprietor Max.

Younger audiences may very well flock to The Lost Boys. Lovers of old Broadway are advised to seek satisfaction elsewhere. 

The Lost Boys was reviewed 8pm Wednesday 1 April 2026 at Palace Theatre, New York. For tickets, click here.

Photos: Matthew Murphy